The Blues, silver medalists at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, have a second consecutive victory after that against the Netherlands 89 to 65 on Sunday.

But how slow was this success!

Throughout the match, Vincent Collet's players struggled to impose their offensive game, accumulating passes at the wrong tempo and possessions ending in a difficult shot.

The first quarter was also a good summary of the difficulties encountered by the French team: Thomas Heurtel often found himself without a solution, Rudy Gobert did not manage to convert his domination into the racket and Evan Fournier did not had no impact.

Opposite, the Italians, whom the Blues had dismissed in the quarter-finals of the Olympic tournament last summer in Tokyo, set up a game centered around the three-point threat, without being very skilful (13 successful shots out of 41 attempts).

Their two attacking leaders were however very present: Danilo Gallinari scored thirteen points off the bench, and Simone Fontecchio finished as the match's top scorer (24 points at 50% shooting success).

At three points, in penetration, at mid-distance, Fontecchio caused a lot of problems for the Blues.

It was he who sent a winning shot to come back to a point (66-67) at the very end of the match, followed by Gallinari to equalize (69-69), 23 seconds from the end of regulation time.

The contribution of the bench

On the Blues side, on the contrary, it was the bench players who forged this victory in Bologna.

Very good against the Dutch, the pivot replacing Vincent Poirier signed a double-double with fourteen points and twelve rebounds, and Elie Okobo had a notable contribution by scoring eleven points.

These fine performances contrasted with the unusual discretion of the new captain of the Blues, Fournier (only three points), and the inefficiency of Gobert (fifteen points but only 5/11 on free throws).

The French team won narrowly: at 78-77, the Italian leader Nico Mannion had the opportunity to give victory to his team, but missed his shot.

The staff of Vincent Collet will undoubtedly insist on the circulation of the ball, too slow and expected, which has often penalized the French team.

The other question concerns the position of leader, crucial in particular in the implementation of offensive systems.

Frank Ntilikina withdrew before the match due to "pain", this absence being added to that of Andrew Albicy, also injured.

France has therefore lost two leaders with recognized defensive qualities, which the profiles of Okobo, Théo Maledon and Thomas Heurtel will not fill.

Holder Friday, Heurtel is by far the most experienced of the three (85 selections), but had all the trouble in the world to put oil in the blue wheels.

The Blues will meet Italy on Tuesday, in Montpellier this time, for their third friendly preparation meeting for Euro-2022.

They will then play against Belgium on August 18, still in Montpellier, then will have two qualifying matches for the World Cup against the Czech Republic on the 24th in Paris and in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the 27th.

© 2022 AFP